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Troy, N.Y. — Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
are exploring the potential of nanomechanical systems by making
and testing springs, rods, and beams on the nanoscale. They
have been awarded a $1.15 million grant from the National
Science Foundation for the research.

The past decade has seen an explosion of interest in
electronic devices at the molecular level, but less attention
has been paid to nanoscale mechanical systems, according to
Toh-Ming Lu, the R.P. Baker Distinguished Professor of Physics
at Rensselaer and principal investigator for the project.
“Nanomechanical devices may have as important an impact as
nanoelectronics, but a number of challenges need to be overcome
before these systems can be practically realized,” he says.
“This represents a multi-billion-dollar high-technology
industry that will save energy and improve the quality of
lives.”

Lu envisions a wide range of applications for these devices,
including much more efficient light emitters and solar cells,
extremely sensitive chemical and biological sensors, and
super-high-density three-dimensional magnetic memory.

To achieve these advances, researchers need a better
understanding of not only the growth and control of nanoscale
structures, but also the way they respond to external forces
such as heat, electric and magnetic fields, and mechanical
stress, according to Lu. He has brought together a team of
physicists, materials scientists, and mechanical engineers to
address all of these issues.

“This is one more example of the wide array of
interdisciplinary research being conducted at Rensselaer,” says
Omkaram “Om” Nalamasu, vice president for research at
Rensselaer. “Collaborative work like this will help our society
solve its most pressing problems in fields as diverse as energy
security and information technology.”

The $1.15 million, four-year grant is part of a National
Science Foundation program to develop Nanoscale
Interdisciplinary Research Teams (NIRT) to catalyze synergistic
research and education in emerging areas of nanoscale science
and technology.

Nanotechnology at Rensselaer In September 2001, the National Science Foundation
selected Rensselaer as one of the six original sites nationwide
for a new Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC). As
part of the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative, the
program is housed within the Rensselaer Nanotechnology Center
and forms a partnership between Rensselaer, the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Los Alamos National
Laboratory. The mission of Rensselaer’s Center for Directed
Assembly of Nanostructures is to integrate research, education,
and technology dissemination, and to serve as a national
resource for fundamental knowledge and applications in directed
assembly of nanostructures. The five other original NSECs are
located at Harvard University, Columbia University, Cornell
University, Northwestern University, and Rice University.